Happy Birthday Carmel and Claire!

My cute girls are 5 today. It has been SOO much fun watching them grow up. I love them dearly, and thankfully, they return the favor :) I got them this outfit for their birthday, and they look ADORABLE in it if I do say so myself. Much to their chargrine, I have become like their mother with picture taking, and we went to a special location for this shoot. I wanted snow, and I wanted rocks. Because you can wear mitten shirts without snow! So these particular pictures were taken in the park to the right of the Oquirrh Mountain Temple.

They are so big and I honestly cannot believe that it's been 5 years. I came into their picture when they were about 3-4 months old, and haven't detached myself from them since! Hope your day was great girls! Love you mucho grande!

Owen!

I took the risk of cutting my baby Owen's hair about a week ago. He is famous for screaming bloody murder at the salon when he goes in, and so Ashlee and I decided to try it with me cutting his hair, and at his own house. He started out doing great! First position, in the sink, with a dum dum...

This is when he really started to get upset.... not quite screaming, just a little bit of uncertainty... but he's so freakin' cute! Second position ended up being on his moms lap on top of the toliet, with a MILLION dum dums (bribes always seem to work with kids...) I'm quite impressed that I can cut hair with one side of him up against his mom, and the other side in my hands. He had a TON of hair on his head so it took a little bit longer.... But that's ok, and we came out of it with success! Hopefully it will just keep getting easier and easier.... But I would like to take claim of the title "Owen's Hair dresser" from here on out!

Lookin like a stud!

The Molly Treatment

Molly came to school with me on Thursday. I wasn't kidding when I said I had my kid clientel come in this week. She however, got the full works. Scalp treatment, Deep condition, and a hair cut! Everybody thought she was adorable. Especially when we were in the lunch room and just randomly she said "Maren, I love you." Lots of other laughs were shared as well when she yelled at the top of her lungs, You're a lunatic! in the middle of the floor. We have Cailin to thank for that one.

She asked to have her picture taken to send to her mom, but then looked anywhere but the camera. She is a doll and I love that she loves me and is my little person :) Nobody freak out, I didn't chop her hair off. I just evened it out so that she didn't have that freaky rat tail thing going on in the back and had my teacher (because I still struggle with "fringe") re swoop her bangs so that she could see and have a legit shape to them. We ended off her visit by going to the Target and getting her a Percy Pillow Pet, which has been much coveted since I got Nathan his Thomas Pillow Pet when he got his hair cut.

Why yes, we CAN swim in the Winter!

On Wednesday night, Myself, Molly, and Nathan slept over at the twins house, because I was taking Molly to school with me for her beauty school time the next day. I mentioned the idea of swimming, and it stuck, which I am glad of because I love to swim and it was lots of fun. Plus there is no snow, so my favorite winter time activity of sledding is vetoed. We attempted, and ended up bruising my tail bone, so we will wait for a legit snow fall.

It's fun to swim with the kids, they all love it just about as much as I do. However, Nathan is quite the wimp and really doesn't do anything. Molly wishes she could do more, but she is too little. Claire is a fence sitter. She will swim sometimes, and then others chickens out. Carmel is the real fish in the sea. She will swim by herself and is all about her independence.

I would like it to be noted in the records that both Carmel and Claire jumped off the diving board. Molly and Nathan both wanted to, but once they got out to the black line on the diving boards, they changed their minds. Carmel went off a million and one times, and would have gone off the high dive, but the life guard killed that fun by telling her she couldn't until she was 8. Boo to you life guard!

Birthday Suprise!

We told Jeff that on his birthday after we went to dinner we were going to go home and have cupcakes and play scrabble. HA. Little did he know that mom had planned for his friends to come over and suprise him to go see Mission Impossible. He was totally fooled! The girls, Alicia and Shalicia (they aren't sisters, just friends, but they have practically the same name) decorated his truck with balloons, funny sayings, and Big Bang Theory pictures, and they also hid 18 presents of inside jokes in our yard he had to find.

Alicia, Jeffrey, and Shalicia

Jeff has a thing for famous people and posters.... He got Taylor Swift posters one year.. this year I guess it's salena's turn!

Star wars cupcakes!

Jeffy is 18!

My little brother Jeff turned 18 on the 6th. He's all grown up now. He would kill me for saying this, but I think he is absolutely adorable, and Handsome! We went to Texas Roadhouse to celebrate, where he of course had to ride the traditional Saddle.

Hooray for presents!

They all complain about getting their pictures took. All I want is some nice pictures and for them to just deal. And what do they do? Complain to me, but when my mom pulls out her camera, everybody is ok with it. So that's why I don't have this cute picture of the two of them looking at me, they be lookin at the other camera present.

Lady and the Tramp: Fruit Roll Up Style

They crack me up.

Beauty School IS Exhausting

Claire came to school with me on Tuesday to get a manicure. I love that I got to bring in kids all this last week to help me get my worksheet finished, because in the end of my schooling career, I want to work/own a kids salon, and Paul Mitchell doesn't have a very high child clientelle. I forgot to take pictures of Claire while she was at school. On the way home though she CRASHED, and crashed hard. So this is proof, that beauty school IS exhausting. I always get lip from people when I tell them it's exhausting because they don't believe it. Just like some people will claim that beauty school doesn't count as "college." Well, to them I say HA.

Carmel visits Paul Mitchell

I got to bring Carmel to my school right before Christmas. She came in for a deep condition to help me out with my work sheet. The school LOVED her, and I mean LOVED her. They keep asking me to bring her back. Carmel also claims to have had a good time, and I'm pretty sure she enjoyed everybody ooohhing and aahhhing at her as she showed off her gymnastic tricks. One of my friends, Koko, because a fast friend. Everybody would joke that Carmel could be Koko's child. When I asked Carmel what her favorite part of the day was, she said, "The booby hug from Koko". I cracked up, because, you have to understand that Koko has got quite the boobies, and so when she hugged Carmel, Carmel was right in the middle of them.

These are the best pictures I could get. I don't know what it is about kids but they all are enthralled with the mirrors and like to look at themselves and make silly faces.

Ellison also got to come to my school just this last Wednesday. I however do not have any pictures of her.

Dancing Queen

Back in early December, Melanie had a dance recital. She dances with some girls from our neighborhood in a ladys attic. Yes, attic. Kind of out of the ordinary, but I hear it's way fun, and Melanie loves it. It was fun to go to her concert and watch her dance on stage. She is very good at it. Maybe she will keep with it and then I can see her dance on the Copper Hills football field as an azurette!

The neighborhood dancing queens... Sans the colton family

Me and my Melly. Love you Mels!

Can YOU spell Maren?

I am very happy to announce that at Carmel and Claire's school of Little Launa's Learners, they both have MAREN up on the board by their name as things they can spell. I am THAT cool.